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In Jo Piazza’s “The Parisian Heist,” we don’t meet the brilliant artist Vincent Van Gogh, but we learn a lot about him through the fictionalized character of his sister-in-law Jo Van Gogh and the completely fictional character of a friend, Claire Donadieu. Piazza alternates the narrative between Jo Van Gogh’s real battle to get Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings to be seen and...

In Lisa Jewell’s newest psychological thriller, “It Could Have Been Her,” she brings back a character from her last thriller, “Don’t Let Him In.” In that novel, Jane Trevally was a minor character, an older woman who helped solve the mystery. In this new release, Jane makes a fabulous, complex, very relatable main character, and her Jessica Fletcher-like investigation in...

There are several very good reasons that David Rosenfelt has now produced thirty-three extraordinarily successful Andy Carpenter Mysteries, including the latest entry, “Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch.” In the big picture, that success is due to the author’s unique talent at combining solid and suspenseful mystery plots with a sense of humor that jumps off every page. An analy...

With “A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage,” author M. K. Oliver delivers a shining example of a novel that is so clever and filled with really funny lines that in spite of ourselves, we can’t help but root for Lalla Rook, the main character, who also happens to be (as the title discloses) a sociopath.

Lalla is most definitely a sociopath, and she’...

Historical fiction is a favorite for many readers and for many reasons. When the fiction part is gripping and engaging, we get to learn about history while enjoying a fabulous novel. And that’s what “The Windsor Affair” accomplishes in spades. It’s the fictional account of two real women who were married to British kings, and whose relationship could only be described as...